The Two Sides of the Gate
by kasmo
Summary: Just my uptake on how the movie should have ended, starting from the part where Ed kills Eckart. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I strongly recommend you do before reading or you won’t understand what’s going on. Hints of RoyRiza and EdWinry.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Just my uptake on how the movie should have ended, starting from the part where Ed kills Eckart. If you haven't seen the movie yet, I strongly recommend you do before reading or you won't understand what's going on. Hints of RoyRiza and EdWinry.

Disclaimer: I don't own Full Metal Alchemist or any of the characters in the story.

"" - talking

… - thoughts

The Two Sides of the Gate

Ed finishes killing Eckart and joins Roy and Al again on top of the blimp. He claps his hands together and separates the blimp into two pieces: one for him, the other for Al and Roy.

"What are you doing, nii-san?" cried Al.

"That should be enough for you two to get back down safely," replies Ed, avoiding the question. "I'm going to bring everything back beyond the gate and destroy it so that nobody will ever be able to cross over again and start another war. You have to do the same on this side." He turns and walks away from them, back inside the blimp.

Even as the darkness swallows his brother up, Al calls after him. "And what about Winry? Are you just going to leave her without so much as an explanation?" Al holds his breath as Ed stops and turns around to face him, his face pensive.

Then, he responds, his eyes distant and unfocused. "Tell her thanks for me for the auto-mail," he calls. Taking one last glance behind him, he continues walking until the darkness engulfs him completely. _I'm sorry…everyone._

"No! Nii-san, come back! There has to be another way," Al pleads, but his cries fall on deaf ears. Ed takes his side of the blimp, filled with the soldiers from Earth and flies away from them.

"Let's go," Roy speaks up. "We have to destroy the gate on this side before even more soldiers pop through."

"What!" Al screams, outrageous. "You're going to let him leave us?"

"There's no other alternative. Do you want our world to be rampaged upon by soldiers from another world? Look at the mess that they created just from one assault. What will happen if even more return to attack? Their machinery is far more advanced than ours is. Whereas we studied and evolved in alchemy, they did so in mechanical technology. We can't keep fighting forever." Roy answers calmly, but clearly.

As they fly in the direction of the gates, Al thinks to himself. _This can't be the end. We worked so hard to bring nii-san back! He can't leave us just like that. Even if someone has to destroy the gate on that side, it doesn't have to be him. I could do it…but then we'd still be separated. Wait! I know._

As Roy and Al reach the entrance of the gates to the other side, Al stops him from destroying the gate and explains his idea to Roy.

"Do you really think that will work?" Roy asks doubtfully.

"It has to," Al replied. "I can't just let nii-san leave without trying."

"Okay," Roy agrees. "I'll wait."

"Arigatou," Al says. "I'll try to do this quickly." Then he faints.

Over in Munich, Germany

Noah cradles Alphonses' dead body as she stares overhead at the golden gates to the next world everyone had thought to be Shambala: a utopia with no war, famine, hate or discrimination; where everybody lived peacefully and happily. Only, that wasn't the case. The world beyond the gate wasn't really Shambala. They had all been tricked by Eckart. Now, Alphonse was dead because of her betrayal.

The only consolation was that Hitler was dead. The rebels had been subdued before they could overtake the government and Hitler, too, did not survive. It turns out Hughes really wasn't a Nazi and was able to turn the tables on the rebels, ending in their victory.

Suddenly, the gate starts glowing once again. As everybody stares, mountain upon mountain of debris suddenly rains down on them. Everyone runs screaming, for cover. As quickly as it came, it stopped, leaving only a cloud of dust. Next, a figure emerges. Someone screams. Whatever the thing is, it definitely isn't human!

"Quickly," it moans. "Send me back to the other side of the gate! I must take revenge on Edward Elric."

Everyone stands frozen in fear as the creature draws closer. Swiftly, Hughes pulls out his gun and shoots the creature continuously until it ceased movement. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief. That is, until they hear another noise. Hughes holds his gun, ready to shoot, but lowers it again, when he sees who it is: Ed.

"Ed," Noah exclaims, incredulous. "I thought you had returned to your own world."

"I did," Ed responds. "Now I'm back. I have to destroy the gate so that my world will never be endangered by yours ever again."

He spoke calmly but everyone could feel his grief. He was being ripped his world, from his original life and everything familiar to him, especially alchemy. He had studied it his entire life and now had to live in a world where it didn't exist, except in myths and legends.

"I'm sorry," Noah says. "I didn't know it would turn out this way."

"I know," Ed consoles her. "I'm not blaming anyone."

Abruptly, a voice calls out from within the debris. "Nii-san!" Al pushes away all the junk surrounding him and walks towards Ed, once again in a suit of amour.

"Al!" Ed cries, surprised. "Oh, your soul was transferred again, huh? I guess this is the last time I'll be able to talk to you"

"That's why I'm here," Al agrees. "But I'm here for another reason, too. You can go back home and I'll destroy the gate on this side before my soul returns to the other side again."

"What?" Ed screams. "I can't let you do that. What if your soul can't return to your body afterwards? Then everything we worked for over the past four years would have been wasted. I didn't give my life to return your body to you so that your soul could be trapped here instead."

"Well, what about you?" Al argues. "Do you know how many people are waiting for you to return? Wrath and otou-san surrendered their lives so that we could open the gates again and bring you back home! Are you going to disregard their sacrifices and stay here, forgetting about your old life and all of us still waiting for you?

Ed didn't know how to respond. What could he do? Even if he wanted to go back, he couldn't let Al do such a dangerous thing on his own. It would be all his fault if Al was stuck here forever. However, he couldn't stop thinking about the lives that had been lost. Wrath and his father had both wanted him to return to his world, because they knew he belonged there. He had touched the hearts of so many people there and they were all waiting for him…no! How could he even think of doing such a thing! His brother was worth more to him than anything in this world, including his own life.

Nonetheless, as he turned back to face Al, he could see how much he had grown over the years. He wasn't helpless anymore. He could do things on his own and had even opened the gates and brought Ed back, just as he said he would. _Maybe I should trust Al to be able to accomplish such a task. I mean, we are both our father's sons, right? Isn't that what okaa-san always said?_

"Nii-san?" Al breaks his train of thought. "Please let me do something for once. I'm not a kid anymore. I can take care of myself. Please believe in me for once and believe the world will give us something in return for our efforts. Equivalent trade, right? We used to believe in it. Well, believe in it now. Believe that the gates will allow both of us to return to our rightful world in exchange for all the trouble we have gone through and all the effort we put into our travels and studies those four years. Please, just take a chance. We always knew there would be high risks, right? Just take one more chance for me and everyone else."

"Okay," Ed consents. "I'll let you try. But if anything goes wrong, I don't care what it takes, if I have to rebuild the gates to come after you myself, I will bring your soul back. Be careful, okay?"

"I will," Al says. "Just believe." And with those parting words, Ed disappears beyond the gates once again.

"I don't have much time left," Al turns to the rest of the people. Everyone must evacuate immediately before this entire area collapses. Hurry!"

Soon everyone is rushing towards the exits. It takes a while, but soon enough, everyone is gone leaving only Al.

_Otou-san and okaa-san, if you're watching right now, please give me the strength to do this and return to my world and nii-san._ With this last thought, Al annihilates the gates, just as his soul leaves the suit of armour, sweeping into the gates just before they collapse.

Back with Ed when he just arrives through the gates

"Aaaaahhhhhh" Ed cries as he is dumped unceremoniously to the ground, back in his own world. The first thing he sees is Colonel Mustang and an unconscious Al next to him. He quickly runs over to them.

"Al, wake up. Al!" Ed shouts, shaking his body, but to no avail. Al still has not returned.

"Come on, Al. I know you can do it."

"We can't wait much longer," Roy verbalizes. "We have to destroy the gates soon."

"Not before Al comes back. No way." Ed retorts.

"There isn't much you can do about it" Roy says. "For the sake of the world, the gate must be destroyed now."

"Then you're going to have to go through me" Ed stood up, facing Roy.

"Gladly," Roy smirks. "Let's see if you've improved any since our last battle."

As they start to fight, Al remains motionless on the ground. Roy is still quick and his attacks merciless, although he hasn't used alchemy in a while, the same as Ed.

They seem to be tied in a stalemate. Neither was about to let the other through. Suddenly, Roy attacks Al. As soon as Ed turns to save his brother, Roy brings down the gates in a horrific explosion. There is a bright flash of light that blinds them both, for a moment.

"Noooooo," Ed cries, running for the gates. "Al! Al! Al! Where are you?"

"Right here," a small voice croaks weakly. Ed turns and sees his brother back in his own body and runs to him.

"You baka! I thought you were dead!" Ed screeches, while hugging him fiercely. "You know how worried I was? Colonel Mustang almost destroyed the gates before you could return!"

"Only because I knew he would make it back in time," Roy protests.

"Can't you have a little more confidence in me?" Al adds.

"What is this? A conspiracy? You two are ganging up on me!" Ed yells.

"Well, it's easy to pick on you since you're so short…" Roy trails off as he noticed how tall Ed has gotten. "Wow, you grew. Did you start drinking milk or something?" Roy laughs.

"Who are you calling short?" Ed explodes. "I'll show you!"

Luckily, Al is able to hold him back as he yells obscenities at Roy.

"Let's just go home. I'm sure everyone's waiting to see you again." Al says.

"Oh yeah," Ed remembers. "Did you get back all your memories since you remembered our journeys together?

Flashback

Believe that the gates will allow both of us to return to our rightful world in exchange for all the trouble we have gone through and all the effort we put into our travels and studies those four years. Please, just take a chance. We always knew there would be high risks, right? Just take one more chance for me and everyone else.

End of flashback

"Yeah, I guess they're finally starting to come back to me," Al says happily.

And with that they all leave the crumbling structure, heading back towards Resembool, their hometown, Roy leading the way.


	2. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or Roy and Riza would be together by now!

Epilogue

In Resembool

"Where's Ed?" Pinako asks Winry when she returns home.

"Gone," Winry replies. "He couldn't stay." Then she burst into tears, hugging Den.

Major Armstrong and the others exchange glances. Why did Ed return to the world beyond the gates? They needed him here to help rebuild the country. Even if he wasn't a state alchemist anymore, he shouldn't have dumped them all without a proper farewell.

Then Lieutenant Hawkeye arrives. "Where's the Colonel?" she asks.

Winry stops crying to answer. "He and Al went to tear down the gate, so no one would ever be able to pass through them again."

"B-but what about Ed?" stutters Hawkeye. "How will he get back?"

"He's not coming back, the idiot!" Winry bawls. "The baka's out trying to be a hero again by going back beyond the gates and demolishing it on the other side. He's never coming back. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!"

All the while she is ranting, Roy, Ed and Al who appear at the door, stop at her outburst. Everybody turns towards them and gasp when they see Ed. Winry finally looks up when she notices the silence and her eyes make contact with Ed's.

Magically, time seems to stop as Winry registers that what was going on in front of her isn't a dream. Hastily, she wipes her tears away and stands up.

"Well, it's nice to see you back, Ed," she starts calmly, before her features darken. "Why the hell did you try and leave and make me all worried that you were never going to come back?" She conjures a wrench out of nowhere and smacks him with it square on the head.

As Ed falls backwards, everyone watches as she runs and hugs him, knocking them both back. "Don't ever do that to me again, okay?"

Everyone sweatdrops, as Ed nods numbly, blushing. When they detect everyone's prying eyes upon them, Ed and Winry jump back from each other, blushing furiously.

Lieutenant Hawkeye steps in to divert everyone's attention from the blushing pair. She approaches Roy and salutes him. "Glad to have you back, Colonel."

"Glad to be back, Lieutenant," Roy answers promptly. Suddenly Major Armstrong shoves in front of Hawkeye and crushes Roy in a bone-breaking hug in all of his sparkling glory.

"We must celebrate your return to the military immediately!" he chortles.

"Hear, hear," the others yell. They all jump on top of the Colonel. However, they immediately jump back and run behind Lieutenant Hawkeye when he raises his gloved hand, threateningly.

"That's better," Roy says after lowering his hand and flexing his sore muscles.

After safely seeking shelter behind Hawkeye, they seized their only opportunity to play cupid and proclaimed that Hawkeye would be the event co-ordinator of the celebration. Roy, knowing he didn't stand a ghost of a chance rejecting Hawkeye, eventually gave in.

Though not before Hawkeye took charge by shooting Havoc's cigarette straight off his mouth and into the wall, stating, "Never, ever tell me what to do and not to do."

Everyone nodded, afraid of what she would do if they did not agree. Roy was even scared for his life as he vowed to himself, _I will never ever get on your bad side, Riza._

"Ahem," Everyone turns around to stare at Ed as he clears his throat, "Now that everyone is happy and all pleasantries have been exchanged, may we–"

"Now don't be a bad boy, Edward, just because I am getting all the attention. Little kids like you should not be butting into adult's business." Roy tells him.

"Who would want to butt into your business? Your business stinks, and who do you think you are calling little? Edward shouts, ready to pound the Colonel.

While Al holds Ed down, the Colonel shrugs and resumes his conversation with his subordinates, or more precisely listening to First Lieutenant Hawkeye take charge, ordering their comrades to make preparations.

When Ed calms down, he and Al start to talk about their separate adventures without each other, the different obstacles they passed and their hopes of meeting again that were finally realised. As the sun starts to set over Resembool, Ed and Al feel they are at home again, at last.


End file.
